Sunday Warm-up: Doeks eeks out $143K victory

The days are getting shorter, the air a little more coolly crisp to grab the morning paper as the year is coming closer to a close. Poker players are looking to make that one big score for a profitable 2010 and PokerStars is here to offer you more chances of making that potential life-changing win. The Regional Championships of Online Poker is here to bridge the just finished WCOOP and next spring’s SCOOP with competition lining you up against your fellow countrymen and women. With 13 different series based on your residence, there will be over $7,000,000 up for grabs over the course of 11 events //www.pokerstars.eu/rcoop/ starting October 31st with the Russian region and running thru the entire month of November. Until then our popular Sunday Majors will satisfy the poker appetite like tonight’s $750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up cracking that guarantee after 4,588 players bought in for $215 into to create a $917,600.00 prize pool.

Several Team PokerStars Pros and Team Online were able to get into the money this evening as 675 players walked away with at least $311.98 after the money bubble was broken by vondris11 who unfortunately had nothing to show after battling for four hours. Pros such as Peter DeKorver (400th place, $376.21), Gualter Salles (324th place, $440.44), Tae Joon Noh (295th place, $458.80) all managed to cash but fell short of the $143,955.23 first place prize. A little higher up the pay scale we found Team Online’s Randy “nanonoko” Lew making it to 78th place earning $1,302.00 and Veronica “Princesa” Dabul making a final table run but halted in 48th place ($1,725.08).

It would only take 45 minutes to condense the final two tables into one. While matkinson while his pair of queens go down in flames to the chip leading Peetoon, koersiej was in dire straits while matched up against steve3331. With the blinds just moving up to 80K/160K ante 16K steve3331 would open for 328,855 from the button as koersiej moved in from the small blind for 1.55 million. Bumbulee_G would fold the big blind as steve3331 snap called, covering and holding aces A♠ A♥ . koersiej’s nines 9♦ 9♥ was not able to connect on the 10♥ 4♠ 2♥ 10♣ 8♠ board as the 3.3 million chip pot slid to steve3331 and $5,505.60 moved into our 10th place finisher’s bankroll as the final table was set.

Seat 1: steve3331 (3733207 in chips)
Seat 2: Slayer_pol (4062629 in chips)
Seat 3: John806 (3791010 in chips)
Seat 4: Bumbulbee_G (1965704 in chips)
Seat 5: sjaak2afhaak (6884602 in chips)
Seat 6: Peetoon (8947158 in chips)
Seat 7: suxess (4596000 in chips)
Seat 8: Doeks (6097552 in chips)
Seat 9: AUpMySlev (5802138 in chips)

Moving on to our final nine tonight newly minted Team PokerStars Pro Maxim Lykov and Team Online Matthew “chipstar1” Didlick welcomed the players to the table all vying for those six figure paydays in the top two slots tonight.

But, but, but I JUST got here!

Five hands into the final table we had a three-way all between Bumbulbee_G, John806, and the starting chip leader Peetoon. Watch below for the results:

Blinds still at 80K/160K ante 16K John806 would open for 350,000 as the shortstacked Bumbulbee_G shoved for 1.62 million holding pocket treys 3♥ 3♦ . Peetoon on the button made the call as the blinds folded and John806 shoved for 3.45 million total. Again Peetoon made the call holding pocket tens 10♦ 10♥ which were behind the pocket queens of John806 Q♥ Q♦ . Both Peetoon and Bumbulbee_G would miss on the 8♦ 8♥ A♣ Q♣ 2♥ board as John806 scooped the 8.9 million chip pot with queens full and Bumbulbee_G needed to find another honeycomb after busting in ninth place ($7,340.80).

Successfully finding an ace

Shortly before the break and another blind level raise John806 once again was mixed up in an all-in after facing a shove from suxess over the top of his 350,000 opening raise. Holding Q♣ A♥ John806 would make the call and had to get past the pocket sevens 7♣ 7♠ to earn the 7.5 million chip pot. The ace on the flop was all that was needed as the board ran out K♠ 8♥ A♦ 2♠ 5♥ to ship the huge pot once again to John806 as suxess lacked the funds to continue, finishing in eighth place ($11,470.00).

Falling short of the mark

steve3331 was looking to improve on his second Sunday Warm-up final table in just one month, after finishing in 4th place ($49,019.40) in the first week of October. After the blinds moved up to 125K/250K ante 25K holding 2.9 million in chips, steve3331 would open shove with pocket jacks J♣ J♥ and got a call from Slayer_pol who also shoved and covered holding A♥ Q♠ . The ace would wait to appear until the turn K♠ 5♠ 10♣ A♣ 3♠ as steve3331 would not improve his previous Sunday Warm-up final table finish, but took home another big score in seventh place ($20,646.00).

Forgetting to take the ace out of the sleeve

Doeks would start off the betting with a raise to 600,000 with the blinds at 125K/250K ante 25K as AUpMySlev would shove a short stack of 2.54 million into the middle. Folded back around to Doeks holding pocket treys 3♦ 3♣ he would make the call for the race against AUpMySlev’s 9♥ A♦ . The all-low board 7♥ 4♥ 8♣ 2♦ 6♣ failed to conjure an ace or nine as AUpMySlev was finished in sixth place ($29,822.00).

Not a good night for pocket pairs

Just another three hands later as the blinds remained at 125K/250K ante 25K Chip leading John806 and Peetoon would gather up enough chips preflop for the largest pot of the tournament at 17.3 million. Watch below for the race to determine the chip lead:

Once again, pocket pairs not holding up tonight as the Q♦ A♦ of John806 overcame the pocket jacks J♣ J♦ of Peetoon shovel another 17.3 million chips into the chip leader’s stack. Peetoon however would have to settle for $38,998.00 after finishing fifth.

Good things come in threes if you like eliminations

A ghastly pattern of eliminations brought us from seven left to just three players left, as the exits from the tournament happen too quickly for the blinds to move up as three hands after saying good bye to Peetoon, John806 was back it after three-betting a 527,555 chip raise from Slayer_pol to 1.5 million while on the button. sjaak2afhaak in the small blind would try a squeeze and shoved for 8.2 million holding pocket jacks J♣ J♥ as Slayer_pol folded. John806 also held a pocket pair this time and made the call with queens Q♦ Q♠ . The board 3♠ 10♥ 6♣ A♣ 7♦ remained jack-free as the seemingly unstoppable John806 collected another 17.4 million chips stretching the lead to 31.2 million chips as sjaak2afhaak became John806’s next victim in fourth place ($51,844.40).

Dear John, could you please return my chips? Sincerely, the final table

After the rash of exits from the tournament, three-handed play would settle in for a little bit but just before the bump in the blinds, John806 was busy knocking out yet another opponent. John806 would raise to 520,000 from the button as Slayer_pol in the big blind holding 5.5 million chips and pocket sixes 6♦ 6♥ tried to take it down preflop with a shove. No dice said John806 who was holding pocket queens again Q♦ Q♠ and made the call. A skip down the 5♣ J♦ J♠ 3♠ 9♦ board and John806 walked another 11.2 million chip into his stack as Slayer_pol became another appetizer for John806 in third place ($75,702.00). This was Slayer_pol’s second third place finish in the Sunday Warm-up after accomplishing the same feat last year after winning $94,781.77 while chopping the pot three-ways.

Heads up starts with a shot at a quick finish

Not even a chance to type “deal?” into the chat box as both players would get their chips into the middle preflop on the very first hand of heads-up play. With John806 leading 35.6 million to Doeks’ 10.2 million, they would create a 20.5 million chip pot with John806 holding two broadway cards K♥ Q♦ against Doeks’ small ace A♥ 3♠ . The ace was that was needed to take down the big pot after two small pairs hit the 6♠ 2♠ 4♥ 4♦ 6♣ board to nearly even out the chip stacks.

Crazy eights

On hand 17 of the heads-up battle our final two held almost identical stacks with John806 leading by just 217,200 chips as the blinds moved up to 150K/300K ante 30K. Watch below as tonight’s tournament was all but over after the hand below:

John806 would open the betting to 675,000 as Doeks came back with a raise to 1.85 million. Not backing down with pocket eights 8♦ 8♣ John806 would three-bet shove as Doeks made the call holding a suited ace A♣ 6♣ . Once again, the pocket pair would go down as the ace parked itself aside the two sevens on the flop 7♣ 7♦ A♥ and no two-outer on the 9♥ turn nor 10♦ river shipped all the tournament chips minus the 217,200 chips in John806’s stack to Doeks.

The scraps would also find their way into Doeks’ stack as the very next hand his 7♣ 6♥ would overcome John806’s small ace 4♦ A♥ and take home the title of Sunday Warm-up champion along with entire $143,955.23 first place prize!

$750,000 guarantee Sunday Warm-up results (10-17-10)
1. Doeks (Hilversum) $143,955.23
2. John806 (Lleida) $106,900.40
3. Slayer_pol (Wyszków) $75,702.00
4. sjaak2afhaak (leiden) $51,844.40
5. Peetoon (Minsk) $38,998.00
6. AUpMySlev (Guilford) $29,822.00
7. steve3331 (Kiskunfélegyháza) $20,646.00
8. suxess (Oslo) $11,470.00
9. Bumbulbee_G (bangor) $7,340.80